Stick a Fork in it
by Xenobia
Summary: On the evening before the expedition to reclaim Wall Maria and access the Jaeger basement, Levi and Erwin share a few heartfelt moments.
_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor do I make profit from writing this._

* * *

Erwin was being difficult. As a prideful and sometimes bull-headed man, he was being sullen and rather childish at the moment. He was still adjusting to living with only one arm, and there were certain things one took for granted that came with having two hands. One of which was the ability to handle more than a single eating utensil at a time. In his persistent efforts to ensure their commander kept up his strength, Levi was only making it worse.

"I don't need you to do this, Levi. I can simply eat it as is on the end of the fork."

Levi's gray, flashing gaze narrowed on the blond man. "I'll not have you gnawing on a big slab of uncut meat like some kind of grubby caveman."

Behind the captain, Eren Jaeger was looking rather uncomfortable. He held a glass of fresh water in one hand, and a hot, wrapped roll in the other. "Sir, maybe we should just let him—"

"Shut it, Jaeger," snapped Levi. He retrieved the knife from the food tray he'd brought and placed on Erwin's desk, and he grumbled softly as he picked up the fork to cut up Erwin's serving of the roasted meat prepared for the participants of the next expedition.

"You've been a stubborn asshole all day," Levi said to Erwin. "Just let me—"

"Levi, I don't need you to cut my meat for me," Erwin barked in frustration.

Some spittle escaped through his teeth at the word "meat", and some of it got on Levi's fork hand. The captain froze, and his hooded eyes intensified on Erwin with warning. "Let's count the ways you should avoid offending a person holding a knife in front of you. We'll start with not spitting on them while they're trying to do you a favor."

Levi grimaced at the fork he was holding. "Now this is dirty. Eren, take this away and bring another one."

"My saliva was going to get on it regardless!" Erwin protested, but Levi had already tossed the fork over his shoulder at the young scout standing behind him. Anything else Erwin could have said got cut off and drowned out by Eren's sudden screams. He looked over Levi's shoulder at Jaeger, who had dropped the roll and the cup he was carrying to cover his right eye. A trickle of blood leaked between his fingers, and the end of the fork wobbled like a well-aimed knife handle between those fingers, as well.

"My eye," cried Eren. "Shit...my eye!"

Levi turned around with impressively wide eyes to stare at his charge upon hearing the scream. When he saw what he'd inadvertently done to the boy, he didn't react right away. Indeed, it was a surprising moment.

"Well done, Levi," sighed Erwin. "Nicely handled."

Levi's head swiveled back to face Erwin, and then he got up out of his chair on the other side of the desk so quickly that it started to topple. Levi caught it, and he turned it around. He went to Eren and he grabbed hold of the yelling boy's shoulders, turning him around to guide him. "Here, sit down. Sit _down_ , I said! Just don't move, Eren. I'll be right back. Commander, watch him while I go and get help."

While his voice was even and calm, there was a clear urgency in Levi's step as he sprinted for the door leading out to the hallway. He nearly bowled over one of his fellow scouts in his haste, and he snapped at them to get out of his way. Levi went straight to Hange's door, and he banged on it hard enough to rattle the hinges.

"Oi, four eyes! Get out here right now!"

The door opened a crack, and Hange's face poked out, wide-eyed. "Levi? Where's the fire?"

Levi grabbed hold of the collar of the scientist's jacket and yanked Hange out through the door, pushing the barrier open the rest of the way with one booted foot. "I need you."

Hange's cheeks flushed, spreading across the bridge of the nose. "That's rather sudden, tiny captain...aaah! What are you doing?"

Levi wasn't wasting time on explanations. Still holding onto Hange's jacket with a fisted hand, he dragged the scientist along with him back to Erwin's office. The pair stumbled in together, and as soon as Hange saw the handle of the fork sticking out from between Eren's fingers, no further explanation was needed.

"Oh, Eren! Hold still, my dear. Let me have a look. It's okay, take your hand off of it so I can see."

Levi held the young man by the shoulders as Eren gingerly obeyed. The captain's brows were slightly furrowed, and only one person in the room noticed that something more than frustration was behind the captain's shadowed eyes.

"It...didn't actually get me in the eye," announced Eren in a pained voice. "I thought it did at first."

"So I see." Hange grimaced a little, taking a delicate hold on the handle of the fork. "You're lucky, Eren. It only skewered your eyebrow. Less than half an inch lower and your vision would be compromised...possibly through morning and during the expedition. "

Levi's tension eased. "So take care of it. At least we don't have to find him a parrot and a peg-leg to ride out with."

"And I don't have to put up with Jean calling me 'cyclops'," mumbled Eren, trying to get in on the joke despite his pain.

Hange chuckled. "Well, we could have called you 'Dread Pirate Jaeger' as a nickname and given you some props to go with the eye patch. Oh, all right, Levi. Stop glaring. I'll doctor it up if it doesn't heal right away after I remove the fork."

Eren grunted and squeezed his hands into fists as Hange worked the prongs of the fork out of his brow.

"Should I even ask how this happened?" muttered Hange. She took the handkerchief that Levi retrieved from his pocket in offering, and she wet it with some water from the pitcher on Erwin's desk.

"Captain Levi decided I needed an inappropriate appetizer," informed Erwin dryly.

Hange's head jerked up, attention suddenly divided from nursing the bleeding punctures. "Don't you think you're being just a tad hard on these kids, grump? I mean, first you knock out one of Eren's teeth, and then you try to put his eye out!"

"It was an accident, Commander Hange," Eren assured before Levi could even part his lips to defend himself. "It just slipped out of his grip when he was handing it back to me."

"Well, it looks more like he was using you for target practice." Hange sighed, finished dabbing at the injury and had another look. "It's already closing up. Levi, remind me to stay clear of you whenever you're handling kitchen utensils. If this is how you hand someone a fork, I can only imagine how you'd hand them a knife. What would you do with a spoon, I wonder? Dig out some poor bastard's spleen and say: 'oops, my bad, I was going for the sugar cubes for my tea'?"

"Enough," warned Erwin when Levi started to get that dangerous, predatory look on his face. "Eren, are you all right?"

The young shifter nodded, and he forced a smile. "Yes sir. It's healed already."

"Well then, I suppose I should be going. Busy day tomorrow, and all." Hange wisely left the office, taking both the fork and Levi's handkerchief along for the ride...probably to study the traces of Eren's blood.

"Sorry kid," muttered Levi, wiping imaginary dirt off of his cravat. "Didn't know you were so close behind me. That's what you get though, for crowding my ass like you're my shadow all the time."

"You _do_ always remind the boy to stay close to you," Erwin pointed out, covering his lips with two fingers suspiciously.

"It's okay," said Eren hastily, flushing. "I probably _was_ too close, and it was just an accident. Um, may I be excused?"

"Yes." Levi nodded at the roll on the floor; which thankfully was still wrapped in the towel to keep it warm. "Pick that up and put it and the cup you spilled on the commander's desk, and then get ready to join your squad for dinner. I'll be down later on."

"Yes sir."

Eren dutifully obeyed his instructions, and he poured fresh water into the wooden cup before setting it down and excusing himself from the office. Once they were alone, Erwin looked up at Levi and he finally allowed a smirk to surface on his lips. "It amuses me that you can't even properly apologize for nearly putting someone's eye out."

Levi compressed his lips, also allowing a less guarded expression to show on his pale, youthful features. "Yeah? Well, you don't even _try_ to apologize for..." he trailed off, sighed, and combed his fingers through his shiny black hair. "Are we gonna do this right now, Erwin?"

The commander sobered. "Point taken. Not tonight. There's no need to fetch another fork, Levi. You already brought a second one with the tray." He nodded at said fork. "You really were trying to make this somewhat of an elegant dinner for me, weren't you? You even wheeled in a tea cart." His blue eyes flicked meaningfully to the mentioned cart, standing near the door.

Levi shrugged, and he unwrapped the bread roll to slice it open. "I thought we might have a cup together after you eat. I guess you want to butter this on your own, right? Eat your meat however you want to eat it. Eat it with your hand if you want, I don't care. Just so you eat."

Erwin stared at him for a while. The lamp light flickered over his face, highlighting his strong cheekbones, his aristocratic nose, his thick brow. His piercing blue gaze saw through Levi's indifferent facade. "Levi, if it will bring you some measure of peace and calm, then go ahead and cut my meat up. Butter my bread for me."

"You said you don't need me doing that for you," Levi pointed out in a mumble. Now he was the one being sullen.

Erwin shook his head. "I can eat the food without the benefit of your doing that, but I think it would be rather crude of me to do so when you've gone through so much trouble. Please, carry on. I would also like for you to share the meal with me."

The glittering, pale gaze met Erwin's across the desk as the captain turned the other chair around again to face it again and sat down. "That's your dinner. I prepared it for _you_."

"Have you eaten yet, yourself?"

Levi looked away. "Like I said to the brat; I'll be down later. Someone will save me a plate."

Erwin looked down at his food. "I see. There's a lot here, though. Enough for two. This is a big serving of meat you brought to me, Levi."

"You're a big guy," excused the captain. "You need more protein. Besides, you're getting thin."

Erwin smiled gently at him. "I suppose I've become a little gaunt. I haven't been getting as much exercise as I used to."

Levi sighed heavily and crossed his legs, followed by his arms.

"Levi," murmured Erwin in a lover's voice. "Please, share the meal with me. I don't think I could eat all of this myself, and let us be honest: it could be our last peaceful meal together."

"Yeah. Could be our last meal, period," sighed the smaller man.

"Then let's enjoy it together," persuaded Erwin. "In the cabinet behind me, I have some wine I've been saving. I think it would accompany this dinner perfectly. Why don't I pour us both a glass while you cut the meat?"

Levi uncrossed his arms. "Sure. Just don't overdo it. We don't need you staggering around smelling like the bottom of a wine barrel tomorrow when you've got to inspire our people."

"Agreed."

* * *

As Erwin requested, they shared the meal together. They even fed each other, both scooting their chairs closer so that they could reach across the desk more easily to take turns hand-feeding bites. It was probably the most romantic dinner the couple had ever indulged in, honestly. Levi blamed the warmth in his cheeks on the wine, but each time Erwin's steady blue gaze met his, he felt that flutter in his gut that belied his excuse.

"One more glass, I think," Erwin said once they'd cleaned off the plate.

Levi regarded his commander warily. While he himself had a shocking tolerance for a person his size, Erwin was the opposite. "All right, but two is the limit."

"Of course." Erwin picked up the bottle of red, and he carefully refreshed both glasses with the liquid before setting it down again and corking it. He picked up his glass and he held it up in a toast. "To us, and to humanity's freedom and survival."

Levi picked up his glass to clink it against Erwin's. "And to those we've lost in the struggle."

"Here, here."

Watching each other, they each sipped from their wine. When they set the glasses down again, Erwin leaned forward to reach across the distance and trace Levi's features. A shiver went through the captain at the touch, and he closed his eyes. Now he was starting to feel a little dizzy and sentimental. He'd stopped questioning how they'd gotten where they were now. First he'd wanted to kill Erwin. Then he'd agreed to follow him, put his trust in him. Somewhere along the way, he'd come to love him. He never allowed himself to dwell on the future that awaited them, never entertained the dull, grim thoughts of seeing Erwin meet his end or dying in his service.

Soldiers lived in the moment...and died that way.

"You know," Erwin whispered thoughtfully, prompting Levi to open his eyes again and look at him, "I still sometimes think of how surprised I was to learn your age, when you finally revealed it to me. I thought you were still a teenager when I saw you for the first time. You still don't appear much older than our newest squad members."

"Lots of people have made that mistake," Levi answered. He smirked. "Are you saying you get a thrill out of feeling like you're doing a twenty-something year old? Creepy old pervert."

"I would be lying if I said the illusion has never appealed to my ego," admitted the blond. Erwin shrugged, and he caressed Levi's lips with his pointer fingertip. "Having the most skilled titan slayer in my bed is also a pat on my back, but in the end, Levi, none of that is what made me...feel this way."

Levi tilted his head. "You trying to tell me you love me?"

Erwin lowered his gaze, and he stopped touching Levi's face. "No. That, I won't say, and I'll tell you why." He met the captain's eyes again, and he spoke with the kind of sincerity that had inspired such trust and devotion in Levi to begin with. "It would sound too much like 'goodbye', and I absolutely won't say that until—"

"Then shut up and don't finish the sentence," Levi interrupted, swallowing. "Let's just leave it at that."

Erwin conceded with a nod. "Yes. That would probably be for the best."

Levi felt the need to distract himself for a little while. He and Erwin were getting too dramatic...too caught up in telling one another how they felt. Erwin was absolutely right; it was too much like "goodbye" and Levi wasn't ready for such a thing. He stood up and he organized the food tray, neatly placing the fork, knife and spoon on top of the plate with the soup bowl.

"I'll take this downstairs to be cleaned up," Levi informed his companion. "I should check on the brats, too. They haven't had meat for a while and I've got my reservations about giving it to them when they're already so riled up for the expedition."

If Erwin was disappointed, he didn't allow it to show. "I understand."

Forgetting all about the tea and the remaining wine, Levi started to leave with the dinner tray.

"Levi?"

The captain paused and looked over his shoulder. "Hmm?"

"Will you join me in my quarters tonight?"

Levi bit his lip, put the food tray down on the floor by the threshold, and he walked back to Erwin's desk. He circled around it, bent over what little bit he needed to and he cupped the back of his commander's head. He kissed Erwin deeply, letting it linger for a few moments before breaking the kiss and resting his forehead against Erwin's. His eyes were closed as he answered the blond in a whisper.

"That would be a 'yes'. Give me an hour or so and I'll meet you in your chambers."

"Good." Erwin stroked Levi's hair briefly.

"And just so you know," Levi said as he straightened up. He looked down at Erwin, feeling his mask slip to reveal the depth of his feelings, "you took the words out of my mouth, earlier. I'll see you in a little while."

Levi turned his back on Erwin to collect the tray and leave, but he could sense the man's warm gaze on him...and his smile.

* * *

-The End


End file.
